1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of fasteners. More particularly, the present invention relates to an apparatus and method of manufacturing and collating a plurality of adjacent fasteners which may be readily inserted into tools which are hand activated or power activated to provide a supply of fasteners thereto.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Specifically, power actuated tools for driving fasteners are widely used in the construction industry. Many of these power actuated tools are equipped to hold a plurality of fasteners so as to provide for continuous feeding of the fasteners and facilitate the continuous operation of the tool. To facilitate the expeditious loading of fasteners into power tools various devices such as magazines, clips, strips, fastener packages or the like are well known in the art. Also, glue, adhesive or tape are used for retaining a plurality of fasteners together for loading them into the power actuated tool.
It is desirable to provide an improved apparatus and method of manufacturing and collating a plurality of adjacent fasteners interlocking them together for loading them into a power actuated tool.
The present invention is a novel and unique collation strip of a plurality of adjacent fasteners interlocked together by a pair of protuberances and a pair of indentations. Each fastener has two protuberances located on one side and two corresponding and aligned indentations located on the other side. The unique interlocking feature of the present invention provides various advantages. For example, it allows the fastener to be completely separated from the adjacent fastener upon deployment by a power actuated tool and/or a hand actuated tool.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a collation strip having a plurality of adjacent fasteners, wherein each fastener has at least two protuberances formed on one side and at least two indentations formed on the other side and correspondingly aligned with the at least two protuberances, so that at least two protuberances of each fastener are respectively engaged with at least two indentations of an adjacent fastener, thereby interlocking two adjacent fasteners together.
It is an additional object of the present invention to provide a collation strip having a plurality of fasteners wherein each fastener has at least one protuberance formed on one side and at least one corresponding indentation formed on the other side and correspondingly, aligned with the at least one protuberance, so that at least one protuberance of each fastener is respectively engaged with the at least one indentation of an adjacent fastener, thereby interlocking two adjacent fasteners together.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a method of manufacturing and collating a plurality of adjacent fasteners so that they are interlocked together.
Further novel features and other objects of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description, discussion and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the drawings.